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Two Killed, Six Injured in Anti-U.S. Protests in Pakistan
With Additional Reporting By Aamir Latif
JACCOBABAD, Pakistan, Oct 14 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Two people were killed and at least ten injured when security forces opened fire Sunday on protestors who were to stage a sit-in at Jaccobabad airport, some 450 kilometers north of Karachi where U.S. aircraft are stationed.
The local administration has confirmed two deaths, while two others injured conditions are described as critical, IOL correspondent Aamir Latif reported from Jaccobabad.
Around two thousand workers of Jamita Ulema Islam (JUI) (Muslim Scholars Committee) and the Jammat-i-Islami (Islamic Group) announced staging a sit-in at Jaccobabad airport to protest against the presence of U.S. troops and aircraft inside Pakistan.
Police set up roadblocks around Jaccobabad to seal off the town and prevent access to the base, and are reported to have arrested several hundred JUI members, many of them the night before the demonstration.
"We have strict orders from the government to deal sternly with the protesters," Jaccobabad police superintendent Akhtar Ali Shah said, BBC's online service reported.
Protesters on Sunday gathered in the center of the town, before moving off towards the nearby Shabaz airbase. Police called on them to disperse, then fired into the air and used teargas.
The airport is ringed with barbed wire, and roads leading to it have been blocked. Pakistani officials have confirmed that at least two airbases in the country are being used by the United States, one of them at Jaccobabad.
But they say U.S. personnel there are not military troops.
Pakistani officials say the U.S. has been given permission to use the base for emergency search-and-rescue operations in Afghanistan, not for attacks on that country.
Islamic parties have led protests throughout the past week over Pakistan's cooperation with the United States in its attacks on Afghanistan and the Taliban.
The Pakistan-Afghan Defense Council, a conglomeration of 34 religious parties, has also called for a general strike in the country against the U.S. attacks on Afghanistan.
On Friday, security forces exchanged fire with groups in Karachi, and imposed a security clampdown across the whole of the country.
Pakistan has allowed U.S. forces to use one of its two airbases saying it is for logistical support and search and recovery operations for troops or pilots that may be downed in Afghanistan.
Pakistan has also offered the use of its air space and intelligence, but insists that no U.S. combat operations will be launched from its territory.
U.S. cargo planes and helicopters have been seen landing at the airbase in recent days. Witnesses have also reported seeing U.S. personnel exercising within the perimeter, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell is due to leave Washington Sunday for Pakistan and India.
As well as bolstering support for U.S. strategy in Afghanistan, Powell is expected to try to reduce tensions between the two countries over Kashmir.
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